Evaluation

	Table of Contents
p. 5 of 7 BACK | NEXT Preface I. Introduction II. The Setting of Knowledge Audits III. Auditing Knowledge IV. Auditing the Lessons Architecture V. The Survey of Perceptions VI. Picking Investments in Knowledge Management

IV. Auditing the Lessons Architecture

27. Learning Lessons in ADB introduces knowledge audits and presents general steps for identifying knowledge needs, drawing up a knowledge inventory, analyzing knowledge flows, and creating knowledge maps. As shown earlier, the small literature on knowledge audits suggests other approaches, and the practice of knowledge audits reveals more still. The commonality, perhaps, is that all are conducted in the context of organizational change management.⁴⁴

28. In 2007, OED particularized a knowledge audit methodology, its principal means, and associated timeframe, to be applied in four phases spanning about 5 months. The methodology draws on elements of knowledge, relationships, context, and external environment; interfaces for lesson learning; and knowledge architecture deemed most relevant to the department. The four phases are

• knowledge audit preparations
• knowledge audit analysis
• knowledge audit review
• business planning

Figure 9 outlines in broad strokes the principal elements of the knowledge audit methodology that will guide the department in a general way. Box 3 enumerates possible related steps and activities and Box 4 sketches an indicative timeframe for implementation. Since knowledge management is a process for optimizing and leveraging the stores of knowledge in an organization, the accent placed (concurrently or in turn) on each constituent of a knowledge audit will depend on where an organization is and where it wants to be: Figure 9 and Boxes 3–4 should be interpreted in view of that. A second important caveat is that the following section on the survey of perceptions, which gave emphasis to identification of knowledge needs, should not be taken as all that a knowledge audit can be.

29. To underpin future knowledge audits, OED also formulated survey questionnaires to draw out perceptions of the performance of the independent evaluation across the four interfaces identified in Learning Lessons in ADB:

• OED-OED
• OED-ADB
• OED-DMCs
• OED-IEC

The questionnaires were designed against the Five Competencies Framework⁴⁵ adopted in Learning Lessons in ADB. The framework of organizational competence for knowledge management comprises

• strategy development
• management techniques
• collaboration mechanisms
• knowledge sharing and learning
• knowledge capture and storage.⁴⁶

Appendix 1 typifies the orders of accomplishment in the Five Competencies Framework. The questionnaires were comprehensive, organized, systematic, and inclusive; they provide the framework within which OED can search for continual opportunities to ameliorate the independent evaluation function and its feedback mechanisms. The responses to the questionnaires also revealed rich seams of "as-is," baseline information, which should be mined vigorously. Box 5 shows for each interface the area of competence on which the questionnaires centered.

30. A key facet of a knowledge audit involves understanding the context and strategic intent of the organization, or even area, to which it is applied. (Audits can be conducted at the level of the four agents of knowledge, namely the individual, the group, the organization, and the interorganizational domain.) The drivers of each focal area considered must be analyzed, reviewed, and examined. Therefore, it can be expected that the focal area of each knowledge audit will change in response to the first baseline survey, evolving priorities, and the lessons of preceding iterations where relevant. Naturally, drawing from the panoply of tools for knowledge auditing, the means by which each audit would be conducted might also change.

____________________
⁴⁴Change management is a structured approach to change in individuals, groups, and organizations that facilitates transition from a current state to a desired future state. Donald Schön has drawn attention to the intrinsically conservative nature of organizations. Indeed, much of the strength and utility of organizations comes from their inertia, helping to make them reliable in what they do and accountable for that. However, today's fast-paced, fastchanging, and increasingly competitive world calls for the process of change to become far more flexible. Knowledge audits can enable organizations to cope with these tensions. Organizations function best when they are optimally matched to their external environment.
⁴⁵Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell. 2001. Learning to Fly: Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations. Capstone Publishing. The Five Competencies Framework developed by Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell helps to determine priorities for immediate action by selecting the area that will yield the greatest benefits if improved.
⁴⁶A competency approach befits organizational learning: It offers safeguards against drain of knowledge, inappropriate use of knowledge, and accumulation of poor knowledge.

Back III. Auditing Knowledge	Next V. The Survey of Perceptions